There are two similar distributions with the name "Geometric Distribution".

The probability distribution of the number X of Bernoulli trials needed to get one success, supported on the set { 1, 2, 3, ...}

The probability distribution of the number Y = X − 1 of failures before the first success, supported on the set { 0, 1, 2, 3, ... }

These two different geometric distributions should not be confused with each other. Often, the name shifted geometric distribution is adopted for the former one. We will use X and Y to refer to distinguish the two.

With a Geometric Distribution it is also pretty easy to calculate the probability of a "more than n times" case. The probability of failing to achieve the wanted result is (1−p)k{\displaystyle \left(1-p\right)^{k}}.

Example: a student comes home from a party in the forest, in which interesting substances were consumed. The student is trying to find the key to his front door, out of a keychain with 10 different keys. What is the probability of the student succeeding in finding the right key in the 4th attempt?